Vernon Gordon 'Bob' Kirby (22 June 1911 – 27 September 1994) was a South African tennis player.

Biography

Kirby was educated at the

Durban High School Durban High School (Better known as D.H.S) is a public English medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Musgrave in Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. DHS opened its doors in 1866 in two rooms and with seven ...

where he played cricket and football. He started tennis at the age of five and played in his spare time while at school. In May 1931 Kirby and his teammate and compatriot Norman Farquharson, were runners-up in the doubles final of the

French Championships The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...

, losing in straight sets to the American pair

George Lott George Martin Lott (October 16, 1906 – December 3, 1991) was an American tennis player and tennis coach who was born in Springfield, Illinois. Lott is mostly remembered as being one of the great doubles players of all time. He won the U.S. titl ...

and

John Van Ryn John Van Ryn (June 30, 1905 – August 7, 1999) was an American tennis champion of the 1930s. He was primarily known as the doubles partner of Wilmer Allison. Van Ryn won the Seabright Invitational in New Jersey in 1928, defeating Wilmer ...

. In July he won against

George Lyttleton-Rogers George Lyttleton Rogers (10 July 1906 – 19 November 1962) was an Irish tennis player, promoter and coach. He won the Irish Championships title three times, (1926, 1936–1937). He was the Canadian and Argentine champion as well. He was a thr ...

in the final of the Wimbledon Plate, a tournament for players who were defeated in the first or second rounds of the singles competition at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

. Later in July Kirby beat his doubles partner in straight sets in the singles final of the Scottish Championships at

Peebles Peebles () is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in ...

. He also won the North of England Championships in

Scarborough, North Yorkshire Scarborough () is a seaside town and civil parish in North Yorkshire District, the district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. With a population of 61,749, Scarborough is the largest town on the Yorkshire Coast and the No ...

in singles and doubles. In 1933 he won the

Kent Championships The Kent Championships also known as the Kent All-Comers' Championships and later Kent Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts in Foxgrove Road, Beckenham, Kent, England between 1886 and 1996 and was held in the first half of ...

and in January 1934 he was victorious in the Estoril tournament. In 1934 Kirby reached the singles quarterfinal of the

but lost in four sets to American Sidney Wood. Later that same year at the U.S. National Championships he defeated future Grand Slam winner

Don Budge John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female — to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year and complete the Grand Slam. Budge was ...

in the fourth round to reach the semifinal in which he lost to eventual champion

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former World number 1 male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam (tennis), ...

in four sets. In 1935 he reached the mixed doubles final of the Australian Championships with the Australian Birdie Bond. They were defeated by Australian Louise Bickerton and Frenchman

Christian Boussus Christian Boussus (5 March 1908 – 12 August 2003) was a left-handed French tennis player who found success in the 1920s and 1930s. Tennis career He started playing amateur tennis in the late 1920s by entering one of his first tournaments ...

in three sets. Kirby reached the singles final of the

South African Championships The South African Open – formerly known as the South African Championships, and for sponsorship reasons the Altech NCR South African Open and the Panasonic South African Open – is a defunct Grand Prix Tennis Tour, World Championship Se ...

on four occasions (1933, 1935, 1937, 1938). He was victorious in the doubles in 1931 and 1932. He was ranked the third in the South African rankings in 1932 and World No. 9 in 1935 by J. Brooks Fenno Jr. of

The Literary Digest ''The Literary Digest'' was an American general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, ''Public Opinion'' and '' Current Opinion''. ...

. In 1937 he won the East Grinstead Open in England, the same year he was ranked No. 1 in South Africa. Between 1931 and 1937 he played in ten ties for the South African

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

team. The best team result was reaching the semifinal of the European Zone in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. Kirby had a Davis Cup match record of 16 wins vs. 8 losses and was more successful in doubles (7–1) than singles (9–7). Kirby died in September 1994 in Perth, Australia.Billion Graves: V.G. (Bob) Kirby
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Grand Slam finals

Doubles (2 runners-up)

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * *
New South Wales State Library Image of Vernon Kirby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Vernon 1911 births 1994 deaths South African male tennis players Tennis players from Durban White South African people Alumni of Durban High School 20th-century South African sportsmen